Oh, well If I must, I must
by The Musical CC
Summary: Link used to be a goatherd, so he knows what a stud is supposed to do...he never imagined he'd become one, though. And to produce Hyrule's new heir, no less! Zelink. One-shot. Slightly perturbing. Rated T for mild sex themes.


A shiver ran down Zelda's spine as she heard footsteps outside her bedroom, and voices that spoke in whispers. Clutching the bed-sheets nervously, she pursed her lips. Was it time already? It could not be, it was still early however, she mused, it was possible that everyone were just eager to have it done and over with. She then heard the doorknob turn and shut her eyes almost unconsciously. Such childish behavior! But she could not help it, she was feeling more and more like a child rather than a woman with each passing minute. The princess did not open her eyes again until she heard the door close, and even then she did it quite reluctantly. The moonlight that filtered through the window-glass lit the shape of a young man, his features clearly outlined in white against the darkness of the room. He was wearing a ceremonial tunic, not too different from her own dress under the bed-covers...mere formalities, both of them, since the clothes would actually be in the way for what they were supposed to do. She flushed furiously thinking of this and just hoped he had not noticed, but how could he not, when he was just standing close to the door, staring at her in a way she could only call mesmerized? She had known it would probably be her task to make the first step, but now that the time had come, she was just too nervous to do it. Thanks to Lanayru, she did not have to. The man seemed to snap out of it and moved closer to her.

"A-are you are you ready?" he said in a whisper, sitting in the bed. She felt the urge to laugh, realizing by his quivering voice that he was just as nervous as she was, if not even more, and this made her throw away her doubts, if only temporarily. He had been strong for her enough times already, it was just fair that he did it at least once.

"I am, Link" she said, her voice barely audible. She thought she heard his breath hitch at the sound of his name said by her, when the two of them were alone in the dark bedroom, and the though sent a wave of tickling heat through her, from the tip of her pointy ears to her toes. She licked her suddenly dried lips and uttered it again, softly, letting the name fly off her mouth like a butterfly.

"Link..." she whispered again and saw a shiver run down the man's body.

"Zelda..." he said, his voice hoarse with something Zelda dared not identify "...if you still don't feel ready then I'll-"

"I am" she replied, raising her voice just the slightest bit "I am ready"

"I see..." he said, letting out a small chuckle "Then maybe it's just that I'm not..."

His companion closed her eyes for a moment, gathering every ounce of her usual security and authority to talk. True, she was feeling more like starting to cry or faint than giving pep talks, but what was important was not letting Link realize it.

"I understand how this is unsettling for you Link" she said in her best speech tone, although keeping her voice a whisper "I did not think things would come to this when I asked you to be my paladin, believe me. But what must be done, must be done, and as soon as possible"

She was right of course. It was simple, a silly little, yet important thing: The Kingdom needed an heir to the Harkirian crown. She was a woman and the sole heiress of the bloodline. So the task was set upon her, naturally. However, the solution that would have been exceptionally easy for any other princess proved excruciatingly hard for her, because despite her devotion to her duty and people, she had a pride and a heart to rival the ones of a lioness. She was not, in any way, willing to marry a man who was unable to tame either of them. What Hyrule needed was a King with all its letters, a ruler capable of running first into the fray and last out of it. A pair of strong arms to shield and fight for both the land and the princess, a strong head to keep the kingdom and all within it united, a strong heart that spread its warmth both to his wife and his people. The rest of the court could call it 'Selfishness' if they wanted to, but it was just common sense; she could not marry one of those useless, weak princes that often came, trying to captivate her as though she were some sort of air-headed goose. Should she ever find a husband, it would be one who truly deserved what he would get along with her hand. It would be nice, of course, if said husband were of her liking, but then again, one cannot have everything in life. That, she learnt in the hard way. However she had kept her resolution firm and the rest of the courtesans had no choice but to obey, which had led her to the present moment, when she was single in a place where singleness at her age was deeply frowned upon and about to do something that was, apparently, a taboo in most countries, but what else could she do? She had never been one to disappoint her people, and she was not beginning now. At least she was not alone in that aspect, Link was just as unwilling to disappoint everyone as she was.

And yet, there he was, hesitating at the last minute.

"Link, you know I would not ask this of you if I were not sure that you understand it"

"I get it, I really do. I'm just..." he rubbed the back of his neck, trying to find the words. He really did understand that, in lack of a husband and with him being the hero of Hyrule and all, he was the best option available to produce an heir with the princess. What he didn't understand and, in any case, didn't like was the conditions; like he was being let into some really exclusive group or something. Link's fists clenched and Zelda noticed them, even in the dark of the night.

"We have already discussed this and you agreed" she insisted in an exhausted tone, as she sat up, the bed-covers falling off her to her hips. He didn't even dare to look at her, afraid that if he would, he would be stunned by her, by the way the dress hugged her slender waist, her rounded shoulders, by the way her eyes shone.

"Well, yeah, but...!" But what? She was right, he had agreed, because she seemed under so much pressure dealing with all of that all by herself, because as her paladin, it was his right and his privilege to shield her from anything that made her suffer, whatever it would take. It wasn't like he was horrified at what he was supposed to do; he and Zelda had been sort of...an item already for quite some time, much to the disagreement of some members of the court, who insisted they should try and keep their relationship 'Stictly Professional'

No, the big problem was how, despite Zelda being technically the supreme authority, they had still found the way to repress her: His social class. As a peasant, he wasn't allowed to marry her, and in truth, he wasn't even supposed to love her either. No, that was far too much ambition for a goatherd from Ordona, even if he had saved the Kingdom from an evil far too great for any of them to do anything about it until he came along. And when Zelda made clear she wasn't stepping down for their stupid aristocratic reasons, they then decided to make him into a...a Din-dammned puppet! His fist clenched again, and he heard a disapproving and worried sound from Zelda. Turning to see her, he found her (Cold, all the people who didn't know her said she was so cold, but he knew otherwise) pale under the moonlight, worried, sad. He breathed out, calming himself down. He was not making his beloved the take-out of his frustration. Reaching out his hand to touch her knee over the covers, he muttered "I'm sorry, Zelda"

"About what?" she asked, although she had the feeling she knew, and how could she not? She knew this stubborn, sometimes even violent, beloved person too well.

"I'm not " he drifted off, then tried again, with different words "I I just need some time to-"

But Zelda could not afford to give him time, not when her courage was evaporating slowly but surely. She kneeled on the bed and hugged Link's back before he could finish the sentence, the scent of the flower oils she had been anointed with specifically for that night flooding his nostrils. His chest swelled as he breathed in, letting the air out in one shaky exhalation. Her hair grazed his hand, and it felt like silk.

"Better?" she asked softly.

"Not really" he said, his whole body quivering now. She was making it even harder for him to resist the urge to just stop thinking and let go to his impulses. Farore knew he had been, at first, tempted, but if Zelda was a proud one, he was even more. He couldn't do it because he wouldn't do things that way. His standards were simple, the way things in Ordona were done: Meet, like each other, love each other, marry, then have kids. He just couldn't imagine where the hell had those Hylian shennanigans gotten the idea that things could be done in different orders.

"Link" Zelda whispered against his upper back, her breath warm even through the tunic "I know how you are feeling" He scoffed a bit.

"Sorry, but I don't really think you do"

"And why not?" she purred, a little hurt.

"Because you're not the one who's being treated like a mere stud" he said, and in truth that was what he felt. He knew too much about shepherding to ignore what a stud's function was, and how, in technical terms, he was just that: A stud.

"I do" she insisted "...has it not crossed your mind? You are really underestimating my feelings for you"

Link caught the smallest trace of hurt and a big shade of truth in her words and it stung him deeply. Taking one of her hands from his chest, he took it to his lips and kissed the slender and cold fingers. Zelda was right, of course, the fact that they were treating him like this hurt her just as much as it hurt him; but she was the kind to bear pain in silence, unlike him.

"It is selfish to make you suffer like this just for the sake of the Kingdom again" she said, resting her cheek against the strong muscles of his scapula "It is selfish, and cruel, the more because they knew you would not be able to say no"

"Not very different from what they're doing to you" he said, his lips still grazing her fingers, his anger against the council doubling "How can you let them turn you into a..?" he drifted off.

"A female stud?" she offered.

"I was trying not to use those terms" he said, frowning at the thought. How dare those old goats treat their princess as a mare?

"However, it is among my functions as an heiress. In other words, I never had a choice to begin with. It is not the same with you, though" Link closed his eyes and breathed out.

" I don't mind" he muttered.

"Huh?"

"It's not like I hate doing it I mean, I love you "

He went silent for a moment, his words making Zelda most uneasy. She had the sensation that, had she been standing, her knees would have wobbled most unlady-like and thrown her to the ground...and she would not have even minded, stupid in love as she was feeling, her thoughts quickly being clouded by the thought that his body was against hers.

"...you know that, don't you?" said Link suddenly, perhaps worried by her lack of answer. She regained her breath, trying not sound ovbiously smitten.

"But of course" she said, wrapping her fingers around his, feeling her naturally cold skin warming. Link let his breath out, his back moving under Zelda's touch.

"It would probably be better if I thought of that and nothing more" he said with a slightly regretful tone.

"Probably. It is what I am trying to do this exact moment" she truthfully replied.

"Then, why can't I stop thinking that you're being used?" he hissed, his revengeful thoughts towards the council doubling.

"Because that is the truth" Zelda mused softly "And you never where one to leave truth undefended" with a short pause, she sighed, not romantically, but tiredly, as though she were worn out or exhausted "My hero"

A shiver ran down Link's spine, a tickling sensation making way in his lower abdomen. Something about the way she'd spoken...Oh Din, he was already getting ideas about how her voice would be when they-_No! Stop right there!_ he commanded himself. _Think of what this act truly means: Your surrender to the council, think of what will happen after, think of baby squirrels playing in the forest, think of anything you like, just don't think of-_

_Oh, for Din's sake man, just stop thinking about everything and enjoy the moment_

He hesitatedly threw a glance at the door, as if fearing someone might peek at them, his mind trying to work despite the maddening blur that was getting over him. Pro versus contra. Pro, they were going to get intimate. Contra, it was just because someone told them to. Pro, they were going to get intimate. Contra...well, he couldn't think of another one, but there had ot be one...Pro, they were going to get intimate...intimate...intimate.

He cleared his throat, feeling his face hot and minuscule beads of sweat rolling down his temples, and decided to at least give it a try.

"I-I have to admit it's pretty...erm...hot to hear you call me 'Hero', though" he whispered awkwardly. Zelda blinked and barely held back a nervous laugh, her eyebrows arching. Was he serious? Was the invincible barrier being defeated by her words alone? It could never hurt to try, though, so she made a second test.

"Is that so?" she asked against his back, her voice slightly hoarse. Link gulped. The vibration of her voice seemed to be sending waves of heat all around his body.

"Y-yeah" he admited, much to her surprise "Very much so"

Zelda closed her eyes, feeling her body hot and somehow electrified.

"Then think of nothing else, my hero..." she purred, as he turned to her and all thoughts melted into the sweet, sweet blur.

* * *

><p><strong>C.C. (a) the author here. I wrote this a few months ago, actually, and it was my first time writting intimacy. It's the first Zelink work I submit to , and I'm really happy about the way it came out. Hope you like it, reviews are very welcome.<strong>


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